First-year offensive line coach Jeff Grimes sees his players getting tired toward the end of practices.

Then again, that happens when there aren't enough scholarship players to fill the two-deep.

Grimes thinks the extra work will behoove his players.

"It's good for them," Grimes said. "I need to see right now how tough they are. There's one kind of toughness that you can see when you just square off with a man and go against him one-on-one, and you do it once, take a break for a couple minutes and come back and do it again, but there's another type of toughness that comes when a guys has to do it for a bunch of plays in a row.

"And it'll be interesting. Today was the most reps they've got for sure, so it'll be interesting to see when I look at the tape how hard some of those guys are willing to play in that situation."

Most of the linemen, though, say they feel better than they have in some time.

That's partly because, for the first time in a year, they're playing near the same weight as their defensive counterparts.